Aussie Matt Campbell has added another Repco Bathurst 12 Hour victory to his long list of achievements, steering his Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) to victory at the iconic Mount Panorama endurance race.
 
Campbell, driving alongside Belgium’s Laurens Vanthoor and Turkey’s Ayhancan Güven, drove an epic final stint to secure the victory.
 
The Porsche team started fourth on Sunday morning, as the race got underway well before sunrise. There were intense battles up and down the field, with plenty of intrigue in both the outright and class battles across a memorable 12 hours of racing.
 
The race would essentially come down to a final 30-minute sprint after a late safety car condensed the field for a final shootout, with Campbell behind the wheel and driving clear of his nearest rivals to take the chequered flag in style.


 
Manthey EMA Racing’s victory ended an impressive streak for Sun Energy’s Jules Gounon who was hoping to secure a record fourth straight win in the 12 Hour, however he and his team, featuring Aussie Kenny Habul and German Luca Stolz would have to settle for second.
 
Reigning Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia champion Liam Talbot rounded out the outright podium, alongside teammates Christopher Haase and Kelvin van der Linde.
 
It’s been an impressive start to 2024 for Campbell, who won the Rolex 24 at Daytona only two weeks ago.
 
“Super excited after that one,” Campbell said post-race.
 
“Obviously, it is a great start to the year. Another Bathurst 12 Hour victory now, what a race.
 
“We had fantastic speed all day and in every condition. The team did a fantastic job. We made a little bit of a mistake in the middle of the race, but we came back very quickly and the whole crew did phenomenal after that, especially in the pit stops.
 
“Laurens did incredible during his stints and Ayhancan showed great speed, making no mistakes on his first race here, so I am really happy for him as well.”


 
In the class battles, it was more success for Manthey EMA Racing as they claimed another important victory – Alessio Picariello, Harry King and Yasser Shahin victorious in the Pro Am battle, finishing ninth outright.
 
Wall Racing’s Lamborghini of Tony D’Alberto, David Wall, Grant Denyer, Adrian Deitz claimed victory in the Silver class, while GT4 victory went to Mercedes-AMG pilots Mark Griffith, Adam Christoudolou and Daniel Bilski.
 
Daniel Jileson, Adam Hargraves, Cedric Sbirrazzouli steered their #20 IRC GT to Invitational class victory.